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Editors

Christmas card addressed to ‘England’ reaches right person

A German Christmas card with just “England” on the envelope has reached the right address in Gloucestershire.

Paul Biggs, from Longlevens, said he was absolutely shocked when his postman arrived at his front door with the card from his friends in Bitburg in Germany.

He said: “I can’t believe it – it’s eerie – it’s just got ‘England’ and sent from a sorting office in Bitburg.”

Royal Mail said its “address detectives” were renowned but “even by their standards” it was impressive.

Mr Biggs said the card had been sent by his friends in Germany on Monday and was handed to him by his postman on Wednesday morning.

The postman had been carrying the letter as he completed his round, asking his customers if the card was for them.

‘Top of the tree’

“He gave me my mail and said ‘Are you expecting anything from Germany?’ and I said ‘I might be – we’ve got friends over there’,” said Mr Biggs.

“He said ‘Have a look at this letter’ – so I had a look and turned it over and our friends’ address was on the back of it and on the front it just said England.”

Mr Biggs said the card had been sent from a sorting office in Germany close to Gloucester’s twin town of Trier and had not been opened.

“I said ‘How on earth did you know it was for me?’ and he said ‘I didn’t, I’ve been wandering around with this’, said Mr Biggs.

“My wife and I are absolutely shocked but this puts posties at five or six stars and top of the tree for me this Christmas.”

The card, it is believed, may have originally been addressed correctly and so was sent to the right area of England – but with an address label that fell off at some point.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail’s team of ‘address detectives’ are renowned for their ability to ensure poorly addressed items of mail reach their intended recipients however, even by their standards, this is pretty impressive.”